Improvement in hand-shears



CHARLES WITTE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 85,500, (lated Decemberl 29,1868.

IIIPROVEIENT IN PHAND-SHEARS.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES WITTE, of the city of Brooklyn, in thecounty of Kings, and vState of New York, having made certain new and useful Improvements inHaud-Shears; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a perpendicular view of my improved hand-shears in the act of being used.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same.

l Figure 3 is a detached vertical section of the handle, used with the thumb of the hand, the-plane of section being indicated by the line x a: in g. 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the palm of ahand, and indicating the relative position of the carpus and metacarpus-bones with the palm of the hand.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The nature of my invention consists in constructing the edge or flare of the handle of the shears, which is used to receive the pressure or bearingr of the thumb in closing the shears, of such a peculiar form that-the said dare of the shears receives the downward pressure or bearing, not of the thumb alone, as with other sheals, but' of the base of the thumb and the palm of the hand combined, as the inner periphery or rim of the said dare impinges, not upon the metacarpalbone of. the thumb, as iu other shears, but.i1nmediately at the articulation of the metacarpal bone of the thumb and the carpal bone of the wrist, whereby the joint action of the palm and thumb closes the shears, and the whole muscular force of the hand is utilized by thisgreatly-improved purchase, thus saving the operator the excessive fatigue and lameness resulting from continued cutting of heavy fabrics with shears constructed with the ordinary dare.

To enable others skilled inthe art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

All the parts of my shears, with the exception of the handle A, which is operated usually by the thumb in other shears, are made nearly in the ordinary way; and the part B, of the handle A, which surrounds the thumb, is made also in the usual way but instead of bringing the ledge or dare C around the lower part of the thumb, with a flare only sufcient to take the pressure of the thumb above the joint or articulation of the carpus and metacarpus-bones, the said dare or rim C is extended further beyond and downward, and past the said joint or articulation, and follows the. line a b, shown in fig. 4, wlielethe said edge or rim C encounters the muscles ofthe thumb, nearly at their origin, which posit-ion is centrally in the palm of the hand, or nearly so,

A so that the dare, of the shears is covered by and takes the pressurev 'of all the muscles of the thumb down to the palma facie of the hand, and the contractile action of the whole hand is the motion which operates the shears, and which lyields the important" advantages before mentioned.

Thus, .whereas Ain shears as now constructed, and well exemplilied in the patent to R. Heinish, dated September 20, 1859, the flange C is bent short downward, in suoli a manner that it comes into the palm of the hand, not touching the lower part of the thumb at all, my improved iiauge C is straight, thus bearing ldirectly against the aud near the fulcrum of the metacarpus-bone, following -the line a b, shown in iig. 4.

Ido not claim broadly a flange or flare at the part G, so that it may, in general, come in contact with the action ofthe metacarpus-bone; but

What ,I claim as new', and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-f lhe ['lange C, when formed as shown, for the purposes herein set forth.

on. WITTE.

Witnesses n A R. BOEKLEN, A. M. Snoek. 

